KZSC has decided on a new music director for next year! Her name is Caitlin Hannah, and she’ll be updating this soon enough. She’s wonderful, and a more experienced blogger than I. But for now, stuck with me, here are this week’s charts.
St. Vincent takes hold of the top spot! Annie Clark has put out a wonderfully dynamic pop record, which spans many soundscapes and feelings. The track “Actor Out of Work” has a fuzzy pop thing and an upbeat pace kind of like Julie Doiron’s “Consolation Prize” (a category of songs I like this year) and it’s wonderful. It also has my favorite album cover of the year so far perhaps. Apparently, Annie likes stark photographs of her face.
In other wonderful female-led bands, Oakland’s Dreamdate made their way onto the charts this week. A charming pop record for fans of the Raincoats and other music that hits you over the head without really hitting you over the head. This band and Grass Widow are really doing things in the bay area right now.
Our top add this week was Liectenstein on Slumberland from Sweden. Kind of like a ghostly version of the Vivian Girls with a taste of all the things that are back in ’09 (Shop Assistants, C86, Pop in general, Slumberland!), this record does not let down. At all. At all.
Radio 200 Charts:
| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label | |
| 1 | ST. VINCENT | Actor | 4AD | |
| 2 | STRANGE BOYS | And Girls Club | In The Red | |
| 3 | PATRICK WATSON | Wooden Arms | Secret City | |
| 4 | CRYPTACIZE | Mythomania | Asthmatic Kitty | |
| 5 | CAMERA OBSCURA | My Maudlin Career | 4AD | |
| 6 | KING KHAN AND THE SHRINES | What Is?! | Vice | |
| 7 | A CAMP | Colonia | Nettwerk | |
| 8 | DREAMDATE | Patience | Skywriting | |
| 9 | JULIE DOIRON/CALM DOWN IT’S MONDAY | Split [7-Inch] | K | |
| 10 | FRESH AND ONLYS | The Fresh And Onlys | Castle Face | |
| 11 | HANDS AND KNEES | Et Tu, Fluffy? | ||
| 12 | PEEKERS | Life In The Air | Park The Van | |
| 13 | JASON LYTLE | Yours Truly, The Commuter | Anti | |
| 14 | WOODS | Songs Of Shame | SHRIMPER | |
| 15 | BLAKE MILLER | Burn Tape | Exit Stencil | |
| 16 | MICACHU AND THE SHAPES | Jewellery | Rough Trade | |
| 17 | MIKA MIKO | We Be Xuxa | Post Present Medium | |
| 18 | CURIOUS MYSTERY | Rotting Slowly | K | |
| 19 | BICYCLES | Oh No It’s Love | Fuzzy Logic | |
| 20 | I WAS A KING | I Was A King | Control Group | |
| 21 | FELICE BROTHERS | Yonder Is The Clock | Team Love | |
| 22 | AKRON/FAMILY | Set Em Wild, Set Em Free | Dead Oceans | |
| 23 | SCREAMING FEMALES | Power Move | Don Giovanni | |
| 24 | JOHN VANDERSLICE | Romanian Names | Dead Oceans | |
| 25 | HARLEM SHAKES | Technicolor Health | Gigantic | |
| 26 | STARFUCKER | Jupiter | Badman | |
| 27 | CONOR OBERST AND THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND | Outer South | Merge | |
| 28 | BRICOLAGE | Bricolage | Slumberland | |
| 29 | PINK MOUNTAINTOPS | Outside Love | Jagjaguwar | |
| 30 | JENNY OWEN YOUNGS | Transmitter Failure |
Radio 200 Adds:
| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label | |
| 1 | LIECHTENSTEIN | Survival Strategies In A Modern World | Slumberland | |
| 2 | APOSTLE OF HUSTLE | Eats Darkness | Arts And Crafts | |
| 3 | DESOLATION WILDERNESS | No Tomorrow | K | |
| 4 | MAGIK MARKERS | Balf Quarry | Drag City | |
| 5 | JARVIS COCKER | Further Complications |
Hip-Hop Charts:
| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label | |
| 1 | CAM’RON | Crime Pays | Asylum | |
| 2 | UGK | UGK 4 Life | Jive | |
| 3 | JADAKISS | The Last Kiss | Def Jam | |
| 4 | EMINEM | Relapse | Interscope | |
| 5 | ABSTRACT RUDE | Rejuvenation | Rhymesayers | |
| 6 | HI-TEK | Hi-Teknology, Vol. 2 | Babygrande | |
| 7 | MR. LIF | I Heard It Today | Bloodbot Tactical Enterprises | |
| 8 | ACEYALONE | Aceyalone And The Lonely Ones | Decon | |
| 9 | MYKA 9 | 1969 | Fake Four | |
| 10 | AMON | Iller |
Hip-Hop Adds:
| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label | |
| 1 | EASTBAYSICK | Rap Is A Joke | NEXUS | |
| 2 | AMON | Iller | ||
| 3 | VIC DA BARON | A History In The Making |
Jazz Charts:
| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label | |
| 1 | DEE ALEXANDER | Wild Is The Wind | Blujazz | |
| 2 | MELODY GARDOT | My One And Only Thrill | Verve | |
| 3 | JEANNIE TANNER | Promise Me The Moon | ||
| 4 | KENDRA SHANK | Mosaic | Challenge | |
| 5 | CHICK COREA AND HIROMI | Duet | Concord | |
| 6 | JACK DEJOHNETTE | Music We Are | Golden Beams | |
| 7 | ALLEN TOUSSAINT | The Bright Mississippi | Nonesuch | |
| 8 | WYNTON MARSALIS | He And She | ||
| 9 | FAREED HAQUE AND THE FLAT EARTH ENSEMBLE | Flat Planet | Owl Studios | |
| 10 | BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET | Metamorphosen |
Jazz Adds:
| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label | |
| 1 | ABRAHAM CLEMENTS TELLANDER | Between Stops | Resa | |
| 2 | FAT CAT BIG BAND | Angels Praying For Freedom | ||
| 3 | SCOTT KINSEY | Kinesthetics | Abstract Logix | |
| 4 | CARL ALLEN AND RODNEY WHITAKER | Work To Do | ||
| 5 | GEMINI SOUL | Dark Skin Babies: The Movement | Pearl Jazz |
Loud Rock Charts:
| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label | |
| 1 | HEAVEN AND HELL | The Devil You Know | Rhino | |
| 2 | HALFORD | Silent Screams | Metal God | |
| 3 | WARBRINGER | Walking Into Nightmares | Century Media | |
| 4 | CHILDREN | Hard Times Hanging At The End Of The World | Kemado | |
| 5 | KARL SANDERS | Saurian Exorcisms | The End Records | |
| 6 | DAATH | The Concealers | Century Media | |
| 7 | GOD DETHRONED | Passiondale | Metal Blade | |
| 8 | AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED | Agorapocalypse | Relapse | |
| 9 | CKY | Carver City | Roadrunner | |
| 10 | BRUTAL TRUTH | Evolution Through Revolution | Relapse |
Loud Rock Adds:
| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label | |
| 1 | STRATOVARIUS | Polaris | earMUSIC | |
| 2 | MINSK | With Echoes In The Movement Of Stone | Relapse | |
| 3 | OLD MAN’S CHILD | Slaves Of The World | Century Media | |
| 4 | SUSPERIA | Attitude | Candlelight | |
| 5 | NEAERA | Omnicide-Creation Unleashed | Metal Blade |
RPM Charts:
| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label | |
| 1 | EAR PWR | Super Animal Brothers III | Carpark | |
| 2 | THIEVES LIKE US | Play Music | Shelflife | |
| 3 | CRYSTAL METHOD | Divided By Night | ||
| 4 | PEACHES | I Feel Cream | XL | |
| 5 | FISCHERSPOONER | Entertainment | FS Studios | |
| 6 | NITE CLUB | My Tronic | Tape Theory | |
| 7 | DAN DEACON | Bromst | Carpark | |
| 8 | SHOUT OUT OUT OUT OUT | Reintegration Time | Normals Welcome | |
| 9 | PREFUSE 73 | Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian | Warp | |
| 10 | BLACK DICE | Repo | Paw Tracks |
RPM Adds:
| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label | |
| 1 | DIAMOND WATCH WRISTS | Ice Capped At Both Ends | Warp | |
| 2 | ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS | We Are To Answer | ESL-Switchstance | |
| 3 | THE FIELD | Yesterday And Today | Anti | |
| 4 | DAVID LAST VS. ZULU | Musically Massive | Straubgold-Musically Massive | |
| 5 | THIS IS A SHAKEDOWN! | Love Kills | Reversed Image-Reversed Image Unlimited |
About the author
Music Director - Our music director takes more dance classes than academic classes, collects noisemakers, sups on soup in the wintertime, and still finds time to read Susan Stryker's "Transgender History" to KZSC's pet seahorse.